Amani M.Nuru-Jeter, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Associate Professor
Community Health & Human Development
and Epidemiology
PHONE: (510) 643-1999
LOCATION: 287 University Hall
E-MAIL: anjeter@berkeley.edu
Courses
- Social Epidemiology
Research Interests
- Race and socioeconomic inequalities in health
- Stress and coping
- Intersection of psychosocial stress and physiolgic function
- Mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative)
- Socio-environmental context (i.e., place effects) and person-environment interactions
- Measurement and study of racism as a determinant of racial health disparities
Research Description
Dr. Nuru-Jeter's broad research interest is to integrate social, demographic, and epidemiologic methods to examine racial inequalities in health as they exist across populations, across place, and over the life-course. Dr. Nuru-Jeter considers herself to be more "exposure" than "outcomes" focused, which is consistent with her interests in examining social factors such as "race" and "social class" as exposures that serve as the foundation for the creation and preservation of health disparities across a number of outcomes. She is interested in how these social exposures determine life experiences and opportunities differently for different social groups and how those differences become embodied and impact mental and physical health and well being.
Her current program of research consists of four inter-related areas of inquiry relevant to the study of racial health disparities: 1) the intersection of "race" and socioeconomic status and its effects on mental and physical health outcomes, 2) race and psychosocial and psycho-biological stress, 3) the measurement and study of racism as a key determinant of racial health disparities, and 4) socio-environmental context (i.e., place effects) and person-environment interactions. Dr. Nuru-Jeter is Principal Investigator of the African American Women's Heart and Health Study, which examines the association between racism stress, cardiovascular biomarkers, and biological stress among Black women in the Bay area with particular focus on coping mechanisms; and Co-Principal Investigator of the Bay Area Heart Health Study which examines similar associations among Black men with particular emphasis on coping mechanisms and internalized racism. Her research has included work on doctor-patient race-concordance; the intersection of race, socioeconomic status, and gender on risk for psychological distress, disability outcomes, adult mortality, and child health and development; racial segregation; and racism stress and mental health outcomes.
Publications
Richardson D, Nuru-Jeter A. Neighborhood Contexts Experienced by Mexican-American Young Women: Risk Environments for Early Childbearing? J Urban Health [in press]
Nuru-Jeter A, Thorpe RJ, Fuller-Thomson E. Black-White Differences in Disablement Outcomes: From Early Childhood to Older Adulthood. Pub Health Rep [in press].
Nuru-Jeter A, LaVeist TA. Racial Segregation, Income Inequality, and Mortality in US Metropolitan Areas. J Urban Health 2011; 88(2):270-282.
Nuru-Jeter A, Sarsour K, Jutte D, Boyce WT. Measurement Matters: Socioeconomic Predictors of Health and Development in Middle Childhood: Variations by SES measure and race. Issues Comp Ped Nurs. 2010; 33:59-81.
Fuller-Thompson E, Binbing Y, Nuru-Jeter A, Minkler M, Guralnik JM. Unadjusted Prevalence Rates: Why they still matter for older adults' disability rates. Reply to the letter of Martin, Schoeni, & Andreski. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2010; 65A(5): 545-546.
Fuller-Thompson E, Binbing Y, Nuru-Jeter A, Minkler M, Guralnik JM. Basic ADL Disability and Functional Limitation Rates among Older Americans from 2000-2005: The end of the decline? J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2009 (in press).
Fuller-Thomson E, Nuru-Jeter A, Minkler M, & Guralnik JM. Black-White Disparities in Disability among Older Americans: Further Untangling the Role of Race and Socioeconomic Status. J Aging and Health. 2009; 21(5): 677-698.
Nuru-Jeter A , Parker-Dominguez TP, Powell Hammond WP, Leu J, Skaff M, Egerter S, Jones CP, Braveman P. "It's the skin you're in": African American women talk about their experiences of racism. An exploratory study to develop measures of racism for birth outcome studies. Matern Child Health J. 2009. 13(1):29-39.
Nuru-Jeter A , Williams CT, LaVeist TA. A methodological note on modeling the effects of race: The case of psychological distress. Stress and Health . 2008. 24:337-50.
LaVeist TA, Nuru-Jeter A, Jones K. "The Association of Doctor-Patient Race Concordance with Health Services Utilization". Journal of Public Health Policy. 2004; 24(3,4): 312-323.
LaVeist TA and Nuru-Jeter A. "Is Doctor-Patient Race Concordance Associated with Greater Satisfaction with Care?" Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 2002; 43(3): 296-306.
Camper E, Nuru-Jeter A. "Impact of Technology on Health Education" In Allied Health Education: Practice Issues and Trends into the 21st Millennium, Eds. Lecca PJ, Valentine P, and Lyons K. Binghamton, NY; The Haworth Press, Inc. 2003.
Interests
- Science and Publications Committee, Racism and Health Workgroup, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- American Public Health Association
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
- International Society for Urban Health
Profile last updated: October 20, 2011